A month after Burn Notice wrapped its seven-season run on USA Network, the series’ creator Matt Nix is eying a return to USA’s primetime with gritty medical drama Complications. The project, from Burn Notice producer Fox TV Studios where Nix is under an overall deal, is one of three drama pilot orders at USA, along with two projects for FtvS corporate sibling Fox21: Novice, from Hell On Wheels creators Joe and Tony Gayton, andRush, from filmmaker Jonathan Levine (Warm Bodies). The three pilots join the recently ordered untitled Sean Jablonski hourlong pilot as well as period/sci-fi drama pilot Horizon, now in production, as the network is ramping up development with some of its long-running shows coming to an end. Burn Notice is over, with Psychexpected to follow it out the door with its upcoming final season. Meanwhile the future of Necessary Roughness is uncertain. The bet on Nix’sComplications mirrors USA’s strategy with new drama Graceland, recently renewed for a second season, which comes from the creator of another of USA’s signature series, White Collar‘s Jeff Eastin. The new pickups also expand USA’s efforts to break out of the network’s blue sky, popcorn entertainment comfort zone with grittier, darker projects. “These pilots illustrate our continued commitment to creating the next evolution of powerful original dramas for which USA is well known,” said USA president Chris McCumber. “This particular mix of dramas comes from some of the top writers and producers in the industry, each of whom bring a distinct point of view and unique talent for developing high stakes storylines and compelling characters.” Here are details about the three newly picked up pilots:

COMPLICATIONS (working title) — Centers around John Ellis, a disillusioned suburban ER doctor, who finds his existence transformed when he intervenes in a drive-by shooting, saving a young boy’s life and killing one of his attackers. When he learns the boy is still marked for death he finds himself compelled to save him at any cost and discovers that his life and his outlook on medicine may never be the same. COMPLICATIONS is written and executive produced by Nix and is from Fox Television Studios.

NOVICE (working title) — It’s no secret that today’s college graduates face the most difficult job market ever. The drama NOVICE takes the audience on the journey of a young man who finds that his true calling may be a life of crime. After repeatedly trying to break into corporate America, Kyle Jones returns home to his economically struggling family and his high school restaurant job, but minimum wage isn’t going to help with his family’s debt. So, while it is out of necessity that he seizes an unexpected opportunity to make money with a Korean crime family, it appears that this new life may have its perks as well. NOVICE is written by Joe and Tony Gayton and executive produced by the 21 Laps/Adelstein team of Marty Adelstein, Shawn Levy, and Becky Clements and New Wave Entertainment’s Matt Ochacher, Brian Volk-Weiss and Michael Pelmont. The project is from FOX 21.

Recent Comments

Did someone at usa lose their puppy? Why does everything have to be dark and edgy? Isn't...

bweller

2 years

Wow, that's ridiculous. The guys behind the 1st and 2nd season of Hell on Wheels were brilliant....

con cla

2 years

I have started feeling abandoned by USA [and Matt Nix] Won't be watching either unless a Burn...

RUSH (working title) — Writer/director Levine along with Fox 21 and Little Engine’s Gina Matthews and Grant Scharbo is the team behind the fast paced Hollywood drama, RUSH. Dr. William Rush is not your average on-call doctor — he’s not attached to any hospital, he’s highly discreet no matter what the ailment as long as the client can pay his cash-only premium and the doctor can party with the best of them. He has no desire to change his life or how he lives it, until an old flame and his conscience begin to stir things up.

And seriously Matt Nix? Complications better be brilliant, because that premise… ugh. The Good Guys was one of my favorite shows. I hope The Comedians goes forward, but this sounds bad.

bweller • on Oct 9, 2013 10:30 am

Wow, that’s ridiculous. The guys behind the 1st and 2nd season of Hell on Wheels were brilliant. The premise of Novice sounds way better than the other 2… to call it lame is just crazy. And to compare anything those guys do to the Mob Doctor series is just ludicrous.

Rafi • on Oct 9, 2013 10:30 am

Rush sounds like a cross between House and Mr. Sunshine. Oh, and Novice was originally developed at NBC.

Patrick • on Oct 9, 2013 10:30 am

Rush sounds like a darker version of Royal Pains.

The other two steal liberally from Breaking Bad and Dexter.

Fire on the Arcade • on Oct 9, 2013 10:30 am

USA owes their network to Mr. Burn Notice.

They should just hand him the keys to the castle.

HAP • on Oct 9, 2013 10:30 am

A little hyperbole? What about Mr. Monk and Mr. Psyche?

Jay • on Oct 9, 2013 10:30 am

It’s Psych (without an E), but was thinking this too. Monk is the show that saved basic cable, and without Psych there never would have been Chuck or Reaper. It was the first show to merge slacker comedy and some form of procedural.

The only consolation here, is that they are going into half hour comedies, one of which (Sirens) was my favorite pilot of the 2013-14 season.

Emsbaba • on Oct 9, 2013 10:30 am

By all means, deviate from what made you popular. Didn’t “Political Animals” teach you anything?

Guardian Owl • on Oct 9, 2013 10:30 am

Actually, they owe it to Monk, it got the ball rolling at USA with the crime-solving procedural + humor formula and brought more eyeballs to the network. None of those shows sound particularly interesting or humorful.

dji • on Oct 9, 2013 10:30 am

what happened to the new sam axe show? i thought they were going to do a burn notice spinoff?

Michael • on Oct 9, 2013 10:30 am

If USA is trying to break out of its blue sky box, why do they keep ordering shows from the same people?

Bradley Valentine • on Oct 9, 2013 10:30 am

Exactly. Nothing here is changing. Also why are people freaking out about it if they did? Man alive. Isn’t the “blue sky” formula exhausted by now. Even Covert Affairs changed gears (and has actually become a watchable show…not that I watch it regularly). Suits showed a lot of promise before it became so watered down and romance driven to bear no resemblance to the bromancy con game I so wanted it to be initially.

And Political Animals was SO much better than anything USA has on right now (depending how White Collar turns out).

Lewis Moore • on Oct 9, 2013 10:30 am

Thank you for hitting the nail on the head. GRACELAND is more of the same, it’s faux darker, and the differing subject matter is being handled by familiar voices. They need to do more than think outside the box for concepts, their old formulas in new hands would yield a much better result than these efforts. Nix had a long run on USA, so continuing there is a mistake for both.

Michael • on Oct 9, 2013 10:30 am

It was ridiculous that they ordered a second show from Jeff Eastin, when White Collar’s ratings steadily declined as bad writing and inconsistent quality led people to abandon that show. Its audience is around less than half of what it was when it first launched. So why give JE another hour?

whatever happened to that DarkNet show that they had in development? sounded cool

con cla • on Oct 9, 2013 10:30 am

I have started feeling abandoned by USA [and Matt Nix] Won’t be watching either unless a Burn Notice Movie or return is on the schedule.

Rose • on Oct 9, 2013 10:30 am

Did someone at usa lose their puppy? Why does everything have to be dark and edgy? Isn’t the real world dark enough? Psych and Burn Notice brought light and hope to the dismal day. What is wrong with that? Renew Psych and revise Burn Notice and leave the dark to HBO. Besides why is Modern Family on USA if they want to go dark?